Search & Subscribe

Search The Blog For:

Friday, 31 October 2014

Pictured below this afternoon in Calgary is MSN 382 C-FUGT being prepared for delivery to Island Aviation Services in the Maldives. This will be their third Twin Otter, and it is the second time that this aircraft has been in the Maldives. It was previously with Maldivian Air Taxi from 2004 to 2009.

C-FUGT returned from Seabird Airlines in Turkey back in Jan-2014, and had remained at Calgary since.

A couple of nice photographs from Port Vila, Vanuatu taken earlier this year.

Immediately below is Series 400 N153QS, which positioned to the South Pacific in Sep-2013. Through mid-2014 the aircraft was noted regularly in Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji, and some three weeks after the picture below was taken, it departed back to Nadi, Fiji.

Air Vanuatu's latest Twin Otter was acquired via Aviation Management Sales in Florida, and was delivered in Oct-2013. It still carries the paint scheme that was applied in Carrollton, GA for Bald Mountain Air Services of Alaska.

Again, another instance of paperwork having to catch up with the aircraft, as occurred with MSN 867 back in Jun-2014.

Both of the aircraft above were delivered to the Vietnam Navy in Aug/Sep-2014 direct from the U.S.A. by contractor Southern Cross Aviation, and became VNT-771 and VNT-778 respectively. The import below ties up the official records to show the export to Vietnam is from Canada. There had always been continuous ownership by Viking, even while registered in the U.S. under the trustee.

Saturday, 25 October 2014

MSN 90 VH-BVS has had the paintwork completed, as well as the addition of CJ Aerospace titles. Thanks to Michael Greenhill for these two photographs taken in Wagga Wagga yesterday. In the lower photo you can also see the avionics/panel upgrade that was completed during the rebuilding process.

C-FDHB departed Calgary this morning for Antarctica, and at the time of writing was just north of the Montana-Wyoming border. It has since filed for the continuation on to McAllen, as well as changing the ident from KBA304 to its registration.

MSN 889 has completed its delivery flight to Aurora Air Company in Vladivostok. The aircraft had departed Victoria, BC on 16-Oct-2014. The next step will be the cancellation of the Canadian marks and addition to the Russian register. This is the second Series 400 for Aurora, and the third is currently in Victoria.

Thursday, 23 October 2014

Just a few photographs that I have scanned and prepared for upload to TwinOtterArchive

Looking a little neglected sitting in the hangar at Whitehorse in Aug-1980, C-FQHC had been in the hands of the Receivers of Northward since March 1980. It was back in the air by the fall of that year, and soldiered on until 2010.

Having lost her wings, but otherwise not looking too bad, David Boatman's N927BA is seen below at Springbank in 1989. The aircraft was built for Aeralpi of Italy in 1967, and returned to North America shortly after with Mackey and Metro Airlines, and then to Boatman Airlift in 1982.

Alaska Aeronautical Industries' airplanes were seldom ever much to look at, but N332MA below certainly takes the ugly trophy for its rhinoplasty gone wrong. In Jan-1980 the aircraft undershot the runway at Kenai, AK and was patched up and taken to Calgary for repair.

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Since learning of the rebuild of MSN 90 back in Aug-2014 we have been following the progress as Australia's CJ Aerospace prepares the aircraft for delivery to Suriname.

Built in 1967 for Skymark Airlines of Sacramento, CA, it went on to serve with Aero Commuter, Golden West, Frontier Airlines, Mountain Air Cargo, and finally Umatilla Aviation Services, a skydiving outfit from Florida. It went down under in 1995, and flew for the next ten or so years with Sydney Aerial Tours.

The before and after pictures below clearly show the amount of work that has been accomplished to bring SN 90 back to top condition.

Always great to see that the demand for the legacy Twin Otters is such that rebuilding projects like this are viable. MSN 90 first flew in November of 1967, forty-seven years ago!

Orlando, Florida, October 22nd, 2014: Viking Air Limited of Victoria, BC, Canada and Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (“HIAL”), of Inverness, Scotland, have entered into an agreement for the purchase of two Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft, making HIAL the first Twin Otter Series 400 operator in Scotland.

The two aircraft, scheduled for delivery starting in mid- 2015, will be configured as standard 19-passenger commercial landplanes based in Glasgow and providing Public Service Operation (“PSO”) routes to Campbeltown, Barra and Tiree, off the West coast of Scotland. The Series 400 Twin Otter was selected by HIAL to operate on these lifeline service routes due to its robust design, STOL performance, and reliability when operating in extreme conditions, all prerequisites for operations on Barra’s short beach landing strip.

Provisions for operator flight and maintenance training were also included in the contract, and will be provided through Flightsafety International in Toronto, Ontario, and Viking’s sister-company, Pacific Sky Aviation Inc, in Victoria, BC.

“While the legacy de Havilland Twin Otter has been reliably servicing remote communities in Scotland for decades, the introduction of the Viking Series 400 aircraft will no doubt be considered a welcome upgrade to HIAL’s offerings while providing taxpayers with the best value for money,” commented Evan McCorry, Viking vice president International Sales & Marketing. He continued, “We are pleased to provide a cost effective solution for Scotland’s infrastructure requirements, and welcome HIAL to the growing Series 400 Twin Otter family.”

Ameriflight, formerly California Air Charter is currently the largest regional air cargo carrier in the world, operating 1700 flights a week to 250 desinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The company is now headquartered in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX and has bases in Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, Hayward, Burbank, Ontario, Phoenix, San Antonio, Omaha, Louisville, Cincinnati, Lansing, Buffalo, Miami, San Juan and Borinquen.

California Air Charter/Ameriflight's association with the Twin Otter began in 1984 with the lease of two Series 300 aircraft from Bradley Air Services, and a further 7 would be operated over the next six years. The aircraft were generally operated in Southern California, most would never carry any titles, and all would remain in whatever paint scheme they arrived in.

ch-aviation

Twin Otter Classified Advertising

The Publisher

AviaTube Aviation Videos

Helping Business Fly

TwinOtterArchive

DHC-2.com

DHC-3 Archive

Regional Turboprop Spotter

CRJSpotter

Contacting The Editor

Any and all editorial or photographic contributions are greatly appreciated. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. You may contact me using the "Contact the Editor" form in the right column - or - send an email to DHC6300 "at" gmail.com

The work and time taken to produce TwinOtterSpotter is made possible by financial contributions from our readers. Please consider making a Paypal contribution via the link - payments can be made securely, and directly from your credit card.

TwinOtterSpotter is not affiliated in any way with either Viking Aircraft, or Bombardier.